Nature has always occupied a special place in the work of landscape painters. Especially willingly, artists depicted the sea, mountains, forest landscapes and endless fields, including wheat. Among such paintings in a special place is the creation of the outstanding Van Gogh “Wheat Field with Cypresses”.
History of creation
Van Gogh created his painting at the end of the 19th century. At that time, the great artist was in a terrible state: at that time he had spent almost a whole year in a psychiatric hospital. The master was tired of his conclusion, and this picture was his attempt to return to art. Wag Gogh began to spend a lot of time drawing. He was especially attracted and calmed by the image of nature. Starting to draw the fields (wheat especially occupied the author), the artist often began to add trees to his compositions. He especially liked to depict cypresses.
Symbolism
Experts explain that cypress has become a symbol of sadness and decline for the artist. Despite the fact that the tops of the cypresses are directed strictly upward, on the Mediterranean coast, these trees are traditionally considered a symbol of sadness. It was cypresses that the artist depicted in the late eighties in his works. Researchers attribute this to the master’s complex emotional experiences. Moreover, cypress trees are the only objects in the picture, depicted vertically. The author specially depicted them separately from the field and highlighted them with a particularly bright color, which creates a great contrast between a clean, calm field and lonely trees tending up in impotence.
In the lower part of the canvas, light fields, wheat or rye, are depicted. It seems that they are leaning against a sudden incoming wind. In the background are two cypress crowns fluttering like flames. The artist himself admitted that he was very interested in these trees. He called them magnificent.
Compared to a wheat field, emerald grass looks very contrasting. As Van Gogh said, such fields require great observation from the artist. If you peer into their shapes for a long time, you can notice blackberry bushes or tall grass among the rows of wheat. So the author tried to portray them from the right edge of his canvas. In the foreground, at the very bottom of the picture, you can see strokes depicting ripe berries on a bush.
The author portrayed the sky in his painting even more unusual. In a clear, clear sky, unusual curls of lilac clouds are observed. Apparently, the author was conceived that the weather in the sky is the exact opposite for a calm and carefree endless field, whose wheat ears sway slightly in the wind. If you look carefully at the sky, then among the raging clouds you can see a barely visible crescent.
Van Gogh about his picture
The master has repeatedly admitted that he specially portrayed the vast expanses of the field under a prolonged sky. That, in his opinion, was manifested overcoming his sadness and longing. Van Gogh believed that this outstanding picture was to express what he could not tell about himself in words. One way or another, the painting "Wheat Field with Cypresses" is still of interest to art critics and tourists.